A wind turbine is an energy converting device. It converts kinetic wind energy into electrical energy for utility power grids. This type of energy conversion typically involves using wind energy to turn wind blades for rotating a rotor of an electrical generator. Specifically, wind applied to the wind blades creates a force on the rotor, causing the rotor to spin and convert the mechanical wind energy into electrical energy. Hence, the electrical power for such a generator is a function of the wind's power. Because wind speed fluctuates, the force applied to the rotor can vary. Power grids, however, require electrical power at a constant frequency, such as 60 Hz or 50 Hz. Thus, a wind turbine must provide electrical power at a constant frequency that is synchronized to the power grids.
One type of wind turbine that provides constant frequency electrical power is a fixed-speed wind turbine. This type of turbine requires a generator shaft that rotates at a constant speed. One disadvantage of a generator shaft that rotates at a constant speed is that it does not harness all of the wind's power at high speeds and must be disabled at low wind speeds. That is, a generator limits its energy conversion efficiency by rotating at a constant speed. Therefore, to obtain optimal energy conversion, the rotating generator speed should be proportional to the wind speed.
One type of wind turbine that keeps the rotating generator speed proportional to the wind speed is a variable speed wind turbine. Specifically, this type of turbine allows a generator to rotate at continuously variable speeds (as opposed to a few preselected speeds) to accommodate for fluctuating wind speeds. By varying rotating generator speed, energy conversion can be optimized over a broader range of wind speeds. Prior variable speed wind turbines, however, require complicated and expensive circuitry to perform power conversion and to control the turbine.
One prior variable speed wind turbine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,039, which describes a full power converter having a generator side active rectifier coupled to a grid side active inverter via a direct current (DC) link. In this configuration, the active rectifier converts variable frequency AC signals from the generator into a DC voltage, which is placed on the DC link. The active inverter converts the DC voltage on the DC link into fixed frequency AC power for a power grid. A disadvantage of such a configuration is that it requires complicated and expensive circuitry utilizing active switches (e.g., insulated-gate bipolar transistors IGBTs) for the active rectifier and inverter. These types of active switches typically have higher power loss during power conversion and cause unwanted high frequency harmonics on the power grid. Furthermore, both the active rectifier and inverter must be controlled. Moreover, active components are less reliable than passive components.
Another prior variable speed wind turbine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,137,187, which includes a doubly-fed induction generator and a back-to-back power converter. The power converter includes a generator side converter coupled to a grid side converter via a DC link. Both the generator and grid side converters include active switches. The turbine described in the '187 patent is a partial conversion system because only a portion of the generator's rated power ever passes through the back-to-back converter. Moreover, unlike the power converter of the full conversion system, power flows through the converter in opposite directions. That is, power can flow to the rotor windings from the power grid in order to excite the generator or power can flow from the rotor windings to supplement the constant frequency AC power from the stator with constant frequency AC power from the rotor.
To supply power from the power grid to the rotor windings through the back-to-back converter, the grid side converter acts as a rectifier and converts constant frequency AC signals into a DC voltage, which is placed on the DC link. The generator side converter acts as an inverter to convert the DC voltage on the DC link into variable frequency AC signals for the generator, so as to maintain constant frequency power on the stator. To supply power from the rotor windings to the grid through the back-to-back converter, the generator side converter acts as a rectifier and converts variable frequency AC signals into a DC voltage, which is placed on the DC link. The grid side converter then acts as an inverter to convert the DC voltage on the DC link into fixed frequency power for the grid. A disadvantage of this type of back-to-back converter is that it requires complicated and expensive circuitry utilizing active switches for both converters. As stated previously, using active switches can typically cause unwanted power loss during power conversion and unwanted high frequency harmonics on the power grid. Furthermore, like the prior full power converter, both converters must be controlled, and active components are less reliable than passive components.
One type of control of the generator side converter involves transforming AC signals representing three phase generator electrical quantities into parameters with a coordinate transformation so that the generator can be controlled using DC values (which is known as Park-transformation). This type of control is a form of “field oriented control” (FOC). A disadvantage of using FOC-type control is that useful information regarding the AC signals may be lost in the transformation process. Specifically, FOC assumes that the AC signals of the three phases are symmetrical (that is, that they only differ in phase). In certain instances, the AC signals are asymmetrical and useful AC information may be lost during the transformation from AC signals into DC values.
Furthermore, because FOC loses information when transforming to DC values, FOC is unable to be used in a system that independently controls the electrical quantities (e.g., voltage, current) of each phase of the power grid. Theoretically, this should not pose a problem because the electrical quantities for each phase of an ideal power grid should not vary. In actuality, however, the electrical quantities on each phase of the power grid may vary, causing uneven thermal stress to develop on the generator and non-optimal power generation. Accordingly, it would be desirable to independently control these electrical quantities for each of the three phases of the power grid.
Another aspect of a wind turbine is a pitch controller. Typical generators ramp up to a preselected constant speed of operation, known as “rated speed.” When the generator is operating at, or just before reaching, rated speed, the turbine controls the angle at which the turbine's blades face the wind, known as the “pitch angle” of the blades. By controlling the pitch angle, the turbine can maintain the generator at a rated speed. Pitch controllers, however, typically operate at a low frequency as compared to power conversion controllers. Thus, pitch controllers are slow to react to rapid changes in speed, which are typically caused by wind gusts.